Religion and Modernity in Germany.

This paper examines the organizational and legal structure of religious communities in Germany. The institutional forming of religious pluralism was particularly marked in the 19th century when smaller Christian communities, free churches or sects, were officially permitted. Within the realm of Protestantism, an active evangelicalism has emerged which attempts to push its positions in the church's internal political decisions. Religious instruction in state schools is widely tolerated because of the possibility of opting out of it. This limited pluralism is facilitated by the depoliticization of debates about religion. In Germany, biconfessionality contributed very early to the churches' development from social institutions without any need of defining the status of membership into organizations of which the status of membership was rigidly defined. Because of their extensive organization the Christian churches become relatively independent from the motivation of their members. The predominant feature of organization of the church has so far been the parish and its categorization within a diocese/territorial church. Such an identification with the church as a form of lived religion is not culturally predetermined but has become an extremely subjective life decision.